


Arion's Scar

by JayWritesThings



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-04 01:10:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21189065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayWritesThings/pseuds/JayWritesThings
Summary: Arion Silvaro is a young demon who just wants to play with his sister, Hazel. Unknown to them, the man down the street has been watching them and his intentions are far from good...





	Arion's Scar

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first original work I'm posting here, and I'm nervous but excited. I wrote this for a class I have and I haven't had so much fun writing in a while!  
Tw: there's some cursing and suggestions for less than child friendly things so watch out for those

It’s a normal day. I’m playing with my sister in the tunnels like we always do. The only reason I can manage the dark, dingy, hope-stealing tunnels is because she’s with me. She’s like a star in the hell hole that is the demon territory. Her laugh reminds me of the angels I hear so many stories about, although none of them are good stories, since the demons hate the angels and all that. 

I can hear that laughter bouncing off the walls as she runs while I chase her. I don’t pay attention to the walls when we play, don’t see the carvings of screaming faces, their open eyes following my every movement. I can imagine the smile splitting her face, and the small flush on her cheeks from running too much. It brings a warm feeling, one that spurs me forward.

“C’mon Ari, you slowpoke!” She yells from further down the tunnel, and I playfully grin. 

“You’ll have to stop at some point, Hazel!” I rebut loudly, and she’s laughing again. I can hear her pounding footsteps slowing down, and barrel forward, catching up to her awaiting figure. I skid to a stop a few feet away from her, and we burst out laughing again. I grab her arm and pull her closer to me, and I watch as her hazel eyes shine in the dim light. Hazel’s grinning, and she lets out a little chuckle before pulling her arm away. 

“Looks like you caught me big brother,” She says softly, and I find my own soft smile answering her. There’s a moment of silence as we look at the walls, the lamp next to us waving back and forth, casting odd shadows on the faces etched into the stone. My smile fades as I take a closer look, Hazel’s hand coming to grip mine tightly. Her hand is warm. It always is. 

The minutes stretch on. Hazel and I make quiet conversation, talking about dinner, and what happened at school yesterday, and about her friends. About the strange man from down the street that looks like he’s been watching us. He had just moved into town recently, I’m pretty sure, and his aura...it isn’t good looking.

“Why do you think he moved here in the first place, Arion?” Hazel asks quietly, and I shrug. 

“I don’t know, but whoever he is, I don’t like him.” She rubs her arms as we lean back against the wall, harsh rock stabbing into our backs. There’s more silence, and my thoughts drift to the man again. From what I’ve seen, his skin is paper white, eyes carrying heavy bags beneath them constantly. His body is wiry and thin, like he’s never eaten a bite of food in his life. His posture is usually slouched, and I’ve never seen him leave the makeshift yard in front of his house. With Hazel and I being one of the few people who leave our house on our street, we’re kind of the only thing he sees that moves. Everytime we pass I can feel his stare burning into my skin, like he’s trying to brand me with his eyes. 

“We’ve had our fair share of creepy demons before, but this guy, something feels really off about him.” Hazel kicks at the ground, watching as a cloud of dust spirals into the air. I watch it too, waiting for the particles to fall and fade back into the dirt. 

“I know Hazel. Let’s just hope we’re not the victims of whatever he does.” She hunches her shoulders, body curling in at the thought of what this man might be able to do. 

“Yeah.” 

We start walking back after a while, the cheery atmosphere now more quiet and tense, like someone had stepped on the cheer with a combat boot to snuff it out. Hazel’s still holding my hand, and when I turn to look at her the expression on her face is worried and tense. 

“What’s wrong?” I ask tentatively, and she squeezes my hand, avoiding eye contact. 

“Something feels...off,” She murmurs. The feeling that someone’s watching us becomes apparent, and I glance around us. “I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it. We should go faster.” 

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” We start walking faster, our footsteps echoing in the tunnel. Then we hear another set of footsteps. Ones that aren’t our own. Hazel tilts her head toward me, and I can see the fear in her eyes. We speed up more. So do the footsteps. Fear starts to grip me as we run, and I can hear Hazel’s harsh breathing next to me. The steps behind us don’t speed up anymore, like the person following us is confident they’ll catch up easily. Is it him? That thought brings me no amount of comfort, and putting on a burst of speed, Hazel and I make it out of the tunnels and into the open. We look back, and all I see is the silhouette of someone ducking behind an outcropping. I saw it though. The hunched posture and wiry body. It is him. My heart beats out of my chest, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Hazel’s grip on my hand is like iron, and she apologetically squeezes my hand one last time before letting go. She lets out a breath of relief.  
It’s silent. Then the footsteps pound in my ears, shattering it. Hazel screams my name, and then pain explodes in the back of my head. As the world starts to fade, the last thing I hear is Hazel’s cries of agony.

When I wake up, the world is fuzzy around the edges, and my head is pounding. I blink a few times, grimacing at the bright lights overhead. I look around, noting the damp and cracked walls. My eyes land on Hazel, her head hanging limply, black hair shining in the light. Her hands are tied behind her back and attached to a pole, and I tug on my wrists, noting my own hands were tied the same way. I shift against the pole on my back, sparking a pain in my spine. A mouse skitters its way past my feet, and I scrunch my nose in disgust. 

A feeling of dread hangs over me as I try to observe things closer, not finding a door, or any kind of exit for that matter, anywhere. Panic starts setting in, and I struggle against the bonds, only resulting in further pain on my end. A chuckle sounds out, and the man from down the street emerges from the shadows. His loose hanging shirt has grease stains on it, and his pants are torn near the knees. I look up into his umber eyes, seeing only emptiness and mania within them. I swallow, my throat parched.  
“You’re finally awake!” He exclaims, and I flinch as he shoots forward. His smile is psychotic as he leans down close to my face. I can feel his breath fan across my skin, and I can smell garlic traces in it. 

“You’re that man from down the street aren’t you?” There are tremors in my voice as I speak, and his face twists in thought. 

“Yes I am! How very intuitive of you, young demon,” He chirps. He stands up straight, stroking a hand along his pointed ears. I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears as he paces around the room. “I’ve been watching you for a while...yes...I saw that power, slumbering in you. You’re a high class demon, young one, that’s why I had to grab you when I got the chance. Your powers haven’t fully developed yet, and I...I could smell it on you, yes, I could. I may be old but my sense of smell has never failed me, no…” His thoughts are hard to keep up with as he mumbled, but my brain latches onto one thing, my ears twitching a little bit. 

“What do you mean I have powers?” He stops abruptly, swiveling his head around to gaze at me. He cackles, doubling over as if I’ve just said the funniest thing in the world. My shoulders tense as he stands back up again in jerky motions. 

“You’re a high class demon, boy, and anyone who has any sense of smell down here could tell, yes, they could tell your magic is strong. I’m surprised no one else had nabbed you yet, although I suppose the fear of you blowing up is there, yes, but I had to take the chance, had to, couldn’t let you go...couldn’t let you escape my clutches...no…” My body begins to tremble, and I can feel my mind racing a mile a minute. High class demon? High class? I remember a lesson from school last year about how demon hunters train to have a more developed sense of smell, so that they can detect the power on certain demons and take them. They would either sell them into slavery or kill them and sell their corpse to the highest bidder. Bile rises up in my throat as I start to connect the dots. This guy, this...other demon. He’s a demon hunter. And he wants to sell me to the highest bidder. Powers. I have powers. 

I had known about demon hunters existing, but my teacher had said in that same lesson that years ago most of them had gone into hiding after the demon council had passed the bill making demon hunting illegal. Although when has something being made illegal stopped people from doing it? I shift in the bonds, attempting to loosen them, but he had tied them tight enough that there was no way I’m slipping out of them. He’s going to sell me. Sell me. No. He’s pacing back and forth now, murmuring to himself. 

“What about her? What are you going to do with her?” I look over at Hazel, picking my words carefully so he doesn’t see what she really means to me. He claps his hands together, swinging himself on the pole around me. 

“I’m thinking I’ll keep her, maybe we can have some fun, then I’ll see how much I’ll get paid for selling her.” My vision goes red with rage at his words. Ice crawls through my veins as I clench my hands tightly. He easily twists around on his toes and grips Hazel’s pole with long fingers. He stares at me as he runs one of those fingers along her face, brushing a strand of black hair back behind her pointed ears. The ice slithers up my throat, curling around my tongue and forcing its way out. 

“Don’t fucking touch her.” My voice comes out as a growl, and I watch as a thin sheet of ice spreads along the floor. Ice. He glances at it, moving away from Hazel and lifting his hands in the air. 

“Now now, little demon…” He moves his hands behind his back, stepping away from the spreading ice.  
“I know what you’re going to do! You’re going to sell me! You’re a demon hunter!” He stares at me with another maniacal grin as he slowly lifts his hands. 

“Surprising that you figured it out, considering there’s so few of us now,” Fire engulfs his long fingers, and I watch in horror as he crouches down and melts the ice easily. “Let’s hope my buyer doesn’t mind the goods being a little...damaged.” 

One second, he’s crouched across the room. The next second he’s right in front of me, pressing a flaming hand over the right side of my face. I cry out as heat engulfs the ice in my veins, effectively silencing it. The demon hunter’s laughter echoes in my head as I thrash against his palm. The heat sears into my very core, my body screaming in pain as he holds his hand there. I couldn’t hear the sound of Hazel coming to, or the sound of her yells over the noise in my own head. The pain is unbearable. The world gets fuzzy around the edges as the last threads in my mind fall away into an abyss. There’s only the feeling of pain left now. I don’t even notice when he takes his hand away, my body going limp and my vision fading to inky blackness. 

I gasp as I wake up, my face throbbing and hot. Hazel lets out a faint sob of relief. I groan as I blink, the pain of just moving my face becoming apparent. 

“Arion! Are you okay?” Hazel’s voice is strained and tight, like she’s tied up in a knot. My mouth tastes like sandpaper and my tongue weighs as heavy as lead. I move my head over to look at her, every movement feeling sluggish. My mind struggles to think through the pulses of pain still rippling across my face.  
“Thankfully he left after you passed out, said he needed to get someone or something.” 

“He didn’t...do anything to you?” I remembered him saying he would do something to her, and I couldn’t let that happen. 

“No, just gave me an odd look and a creepy smile…” Hazel shifts against the pole.

“How long...how long was I out?” 

“A few hours I think? It’s hard to keep track of time in here, not that it’s any easier out there since y’know...we live in a giant cave and all that…” Hazel trails off, shuffling her feet along the ground. We make brief eye contact and her eyes widen. “He burned you.” My shoulders tense as I try to look at Hazel through my right eye. I can’t. There’s only darkness. I can’t see through that eye anymore. I feel my heart stutter as I hear approaching footsteps. Hazel turns her head to where the door must be. The hunter walks in with another man. His outfit is mostly gray, slacks tight on his legs and his shirt clinging to the muscles on his arms. He gives me a once over, tilting his head in curiosity. 

“So this is him? He’s just a kid Grey,” The man says to Grey, and the man’s smile is as psychotic as before.

“You should’ve seen him earlier sir! He was spreading ice, yes, had to incapacitate him for awhile so you could get him,” The hunter replies, and I try to glare at them, but the pain of drawing my eyebrows together just makes me flinch instead. 

“Is that why there’s burned flesh on the right side of his face? You know I’ll have to reduce the price slightly since he’s damaged.” The man shakes his head as if in disappointment. “You are usually good at giving them to me without marks Grey.” Grey shrugs his shoulders.

“He’s high class sir, couldn’t let him attack me, especially with those powers of his…” I growl, pulling against the bonds tying me with renewed vigor. I know what will happen. The man will make casual conversation and then take me first, then he’ll ask about Hazel and just take her as well and give Grey some extra money for her. I ignore the pain in my face for a moment to try and seek out that ice again. I can’t let them take us. 

“High class, huh?” He sniffs the air, smile turning more devilish at what he finds. “He is, good work Grey.” He saunters over with confidence, gripping my chin hard, making me flinch again. His dark green eyes are bright with interest as he searches my face. He presses his fingers into my burned cheek, and I make a faint noise of pain. 

“Hey! Get your hands off of him!” Hazel exclaims, and the man slowly turns to her with a small sneer. He sets his jaw as if he is grinding his teeth and lets go of my face. I let out a barely audible sigh of relief, but my heart ceases in my chest as he makes his way towards her. 

“I don’t particularly appreciate my new things having attitudes, but you’re pretty enough that I’ll let it slide this time.” He bends down close to her face, a hand reaching up to brush back her hair. The ice slithers through my veins with renewed vigor as I’m forced to watch the scene play out. Pain becomes a secondary feeling as I try to concentrate on the feeling of the ice. My muscles tense up as I look at the man again, at the sultry smile on his face as he runs his fingers along Hazel’s face. 

The rage inside of me bubbles up again, the ice spreading along the floor once again. The man doesn’t turn around, dismissing the change in temperature, but Grey notices. His hands light on fire again as he rushes towards me, but this time, I was ready for it. A shard of ice flies from the ground and impales itself through Grey’s chest. He stumbles forward in surprise, the fire on his hands sputtering out. His body lands on the floor, and I try to rise onto my feet as the man turns at the noise. His eyes widen in surprise, and he goes to move but he’s not quick enough. Another shard flies forward and goes right through his skull. He makes a small sound of pain before collapsing on the ground. Blood trickles out from the wounds on both of the men, and Hazel looks away. 

I pull at the ropes binding me, hearing them crack and break. They had been covered thickly enough in ice they just snapped off easily. I stretch my arms, listening to my bones pop gleefully. Hazel tries to tug at hers, but they’re simply cold and not frozen. I untie them and help her up onto her feet. She immediately hugs me tightly, burying her face into my shoulder as she sobs in relief. I don’t look at the demon’s corpses, because I know if I do I’ll break down too. 

It takes an hour or so to make our way out of the tunnels and into an open area where we could find some help. Hazel constantly looks back towards the tunnels, expecting Grey to come running out of them and kill us for what I did to him. He doesn’t, thankfully. We came out of the tunnels that were on the opposite side of our small settlement in one of the more open caves, and immediately a random demon spots us. They rush towards us, piercings in their pointed ears shining in the lamp light. Hazel has an arm around me, my brain fuzzy with exhaustion and my face still feeling like it’s overheating as we kept walking. The demon’s bright blue eyes shine with fake looking concern. 

“Are you alright kids? Your mom has been looking for you for a few days now!” I narrow my one seeing eye suspiciously at them, standing up straighter and shrugging Hazel’s arm off. 

“Oh yeah? Well we’ll be just fine getting to her on our own,” I respond coldly, grabbing Hazel’s hand and dragging her away. 

“Suit yourselves, but be careful, a lot of other demons are looking for you!” Hazel grips my hand tightly, and I push the ice threatening to retaliate back down into a relatively peaceful slumber. We walk as quickly as we can away, my eye watching the person carefully before we disappear from view. 

Thankfully, we don’t run into any of the other demons out ‘looking’ for us as they had said, but the feeling of paranoia stuck with me the whole way across our sector. Orange light spilled onto the gray and cracking cement on our street, casting our shadows across it. A few scaly creatures slither into the shadows, beady yellow eyes staring at us through the darkness. Our home looks as dreary as ever, the cobblestone’s cracks seeming to peek out at us. Hazel lets out a strangled sob as we watch a light turn on inside the home.

“Arion! Hazel! You’re back, you’re alive!” Our mother cries as she throws the door open. Light from inside the house spills out onto the pavement, and she runs to us and wraps her arms around us tightly. “What happened?!” 

“We got attacked and kidnapped by a demon hunter,” I say in a dead voice. Her face shifts into a shocked expression, her eyes sparkling with fear. 

“How in the angel did you escape?” Hazel looks to me silently. I swallow thickly. 

“I killed them.” My mom goes dead silent, and she stares at me in surprise. “I...I have powers, Mom, these ice powers...I can feel it, slithering around my body, calling to me. I couldn’t let them take us, I had to.” She shakes her head, pulling me closer. 

“They burned you too, it looks like. I’m so sorry sweetie, I didn’t think it would happen so soon…” My heart stutters as my mind processes the words. Hazel is quiet as she looks between us. 

“What do you mean Mom?” She gives me a sad smile.

“Let’s go inside, guys, I think it’s time I told you about your father.”


End file.
